Running With Argentine

by William Lee Gordon

  "Or," the lieutenant spoke up. "It could be that some very powerful people needed to move a passenger from one system to another and the cargo is just a cover."

  "I don't think that's very likely, is it?"

  He shrugged, "We saw a lot of crazy deceptions in the People's Republic."

  "But why us?" Barry insisted.

  "Well, it could be for the very same reasons that the police are suspicious of us… We're not well known around here and they might prefer to have a ship that isn't necessarily on the level anyway."

  "Well, I suppose we'll find out soon enough," said the chief.

  Barry went back to drumming his fingers on the console in front of him.

  Suddenly, Sami broke the silence by saying, "Hey, someone's coming!"

  They all focused on their screens as their passenger approached.

  "It's too dark; I can't see the color of her hair…"

  "Are you sure it's a her? She walks like a man."

  As a figure came closer the hair color resolved to be dark brown or black.

  And it was definitely a man. He stopped in front of the closed boarding hatch.

  In a slightly raised voice he said, "I know you can hear me. I'm your processing engineer; are you going to let me in?"

  Argentine didn't realize how heavily he was frowning until he heard a familiar female voice behind him say, "Well, don't you think you ought to open the door?"

  If anyone would've been watching, they might have noticed Argentine’s frown transition to a slight smile…

  ΔΔΔ

  Mandi walked onto the bridge, followed closely by Gossip.

  “What the…” Lieutenant Stark exclaimed and then looked sharply at the crewman.

  Gossip held his arms out, palms forward, and shrugged.

  “Oh, don’t blame him,” Mandi admonished. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “That still doesn’t explain how you got on-board!” the lieutenant protested.

  When Gossip started using his hands to pantomime an answer, Mandi rolled her eyes and said, “That’ll take forever. I’ll explain… I came aboard in a sealed survival container that just happened to be buried in a bunch of unprocessed ore.”

  Gossip nodded his agreement as Mandi changed her focus to Argentine…

  "It would probably be a good idea to let Professor Sullivan in, and you might want to think about breaking orbit as fast as you can...

  “Oh, and… Surprise!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Chief Engineer Carlton West

  Departing Asperia

  "Do you ever get the feeling we've let things spiral out of control?" the chief asked.

  "Ohhh yeah," Argentine responded. "Of course, that would be assuming we ever had control of things in the first place."

  The chief had to concede that he had a point.

  He'd followed Argentine back to his cabin after Mandi had made her surprise entrance.

  Surprisingly, Argentine had kept his cool. He'd simply told Sami and Barry to get them out of there and then left the bridge.

  They knew each other well enough that very little needed to be said. They were obviously in way over their heads and there was a ton of stuff going on – and they had no clue what most of it was.

  It was a good time to just sit back, reassess, think things through, and not let everyone on the crew see how worried you were.

  In some ways, it felt like just yesterday that they'd decided to make their break. In other ways, it felt like the People's Republic of Chezden was years behind them. Either way, the six weeks that the ship's chronometer insisted on didn't feel like reality...

  Chief West was a practical man.

  His pappy had never raised him to think life was fair, so he'd never really gone through a disillusionment stage in his life. He'd also grown up knowing that concepts such as patriotism and loyalty to the state were simply tools that others employed for manipulation - and the chief wasn’t raised to let himself be manipulated either.

  That didn't mean he was a rebel; On the contrary, he found it much more advantageous to let others underestimate him.

  He did have his own moral code, so he wouldn't go out of his way to hurt others, but his highest loyalty was reserved for he and his – himself and those few around him for whom he felt an affection and loyalty.

  A psychologist would have described him as having a tribalist mentality. The chief didn't know that – and he wouldn't have cared anyway.

  He'd spent sixteen years in the People's Republic of Chezden Navy before being assigned to the P.R.S. Pelican.

  It was an okay ship, as ships went… It was old and constantly breaking down, but that was par for the course. What made the Pelican special wasn't the ship itself. It was the people that served on her.

  He had finally found a ship whose command was the perfect mix of arrogance, incompetence, ambivalence, and plain stupidity such to allow him to build his own fiefdom and keep his life comfortable.

  He’d been concerned at first when a new First Officer had been assigned, but he’d soon realized that Argentine viewed the world the same way he did… Or, at least, close enough.

  The chief wasn't an overly emotional person; he wasn't like Argentine hiding a soft touch behind a gruff exterior…

  Still, he carried an almost parental affection for his assistant Rory, and more recently, Sami.

  He'd first met Rory years before they were both assigned to the Pelican. Kind of like Argentine had done with Sami; he'd taken Rory under his wing. As awkward as the boy was socially, the chief had recognized his mechanical brilliance right away.

  It wouldn't be fair to say that the chief wasn't a hard worker, as long as you understand that the grease under your fingernails type of work isn't what he focuses on.

  Whether it was electrical systems, mechanical systems, quantum systems (which is what the Dreamspace motors were based upon), supply systems, or logistical systems (or any other systems made up of people) the chief was a genius.

  Paired up with Rory's mechanical aptitude they were a powerful force for the benefit of whoever commanded their loyalty. Of course, the chief had never met any ship's captain or political officer that was worthy of that loyalty…

  Over the years there had been more than one personnel officer that had stupidly tried to split them up and assign them to different ships. With decades of making connections in the Navy's logistical corps, however, it had been easy to make sure that the idiot’s entire unit was transferred to the front lines… To get some real fighting experience… Assigned to outposts or ships that tragically were only supplied with practice ammunition… And whose entire food supply consisted of Jell-O.

  That had only happened twice before the Navy's Office of Personnel Management had coincidentally decided to leave him and Rory alone.

  But now, the People's Republic of Chezden was long gone… Or at least he assumed it was. In many ways, making a run for it was taking a huge step backwards from the lifestyle he’d created for himself.

  He knew that Argentine and several of the others were simply looking for a safe place to build a life. They wouldn't mind making a little money first so it could be a comfortable life, but crewing a ship and growing old in space probably wasn't at the top of their list of priorities.

  He and Rory, on the other hand, wanted… What?

  The truth was, Rory would probably be happy as long as they stayed together and he had interesting things to work on… So it wasn't cruel for the chief to take on the responsibility of directing both their futures. But… What did they want?

  The idea of living a life in space didn't bother the chief in the least. As long as he could have his cognac, good conversation, and other creature comforts, plying the space lanes seemed as good a life as any. At least there would always be new places to see…

  But he had to face the fact that it would also be a dangerous life.

  The chief wasn't a coward; he wasn't overly afraid of anything and, as long as he
could live with himself afterward, he wasn't one to shy away from violence.

  But the reality was that if you kept moving around you would inevitably run into someone with a bigger gun, a faster ship, or (heaven forbid) a higher purpose.

  So… What to do?

  For now, the priority was clear; they needed to keep running.

  But, hopefully, sooner rather than later they were going to have to figure these things out. He hoped that Argentine would stay laser focused and not get distracted on chasing that dream of his, because he was probably the only person that could keep them together long enough to earn any kind of credits via legitimate work…

  And he had a hard time visualizing the Pelican as a pirate ship.

  ΔΔΔ

  Suddenly Argentine broke the silence between them. Apparently he’d come to some kind of decision.

  He reached up and activated the intercom…

  "Sami, I went all senior crew to meet me in the ship's mess in ten minutes. Make sure that Mandi and her professor friend are there too."

  They'd brought the professor aboard, undocked, and were now accelerating up the Asperian gravity well.

  The chief knew that Mandi was trouble. He'd half expected her to show up again simply because she was trouble.

  When the solitary figure had first approached the ship from the darkened terminal, he had gotten his hopes up.

  The stranger was obviously male.

  But then just as quickly, those same hopes had been dashed when she'd walked onto the bridge.

  Not everyone, however, had been sad to see her.

  Before he'd followed Argentine he'd watched Sami let out a squeal and run over to give Mandi a big hug.

  Trouble.

  This could only lead to trouble…

  The ten minutes were up.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  A New Mission

  Dreamspace

  Most everyone was already gathered in the mess when Argentine made his entrance.

  "Sami, how long before we can go into skip?"

  "We should clear the Asperian gravity well in another seventeen hours, give or take…"

  "Are there any ships that can overtake us before then?"

  "In a system this busy?" she asked. "Yeah, of course."

  "Are any of them warships? Customs, police… any ships that could threaten us?"

  Sami's eyes took on even more of a dreamy look than usual; she was obviously interfacing with the ship's astrogation computer.

  "I could easily have done that. We are still in-system and I am the ship's pilot, you know," a voice quietly grumbled.

  "Not now, Barry. I'm not in the mood."

  "Righto," came the reply.

  "No, First. I think we're clear. It looks like a couple of inbound freighters could match course with us if they really tried, and there's a few more heading out system that are ahead of us, but I don't see anything that looks like a patrol or an armed ship."

  "Satisfied, Captain?" Mandi asked. "Can you breathe easy now that you know I'm not leading you into an ambush?"

  Ignoring her, Argentine turned to the professor…

  "Are you really an engineer specializing in ore processing?"

  "Ah, well…"

  "Exactly what I thought," interrupted the chief.

  Argentine shifted his gaze. "Okay, Mandi. Explain."

  With a slight grin she said matter-of-factly, "You have a habit of getting into trouble everyplace you go and then running away," she said matter-of-factly. "I think that pretty much sums it up nicely, don't you?"

  The room was deathly silent.

  "Oh for the sake of the Galactic Gods," she said in exasperation. "If I'm going to have to keep rescuing you like this the least you can do is be nice to me!"

  "Rescuing us? You're going to bloody well get us killed!" Barry blurted out.

  The chief had been about to speak but realized he couldn't have put it much better than Barry had…

  "I'm going to say it again," Argentine said quietly. "Explain yourself."

  Mandi cocked her head with an expression that was… Curious?

  "Very well, but if I help you connect the dots will you at least promise to be civil?"

  Again, no one responded.

  "Sheesh," she mumbled. "Okay, I learned through my contacts that you’d gotten yourself in trouble with the Asperian police. Fortunately, you hadn't had time to totally piss them off so you were only persons of interest - they hadn't issued any arrest orders yet."

  The chief started to object but Argentine held up his hand, holding him off.

  "Anyway, I knew it wasn't anything you couldn't handle until I found out you’d also managed to piss off the military..."

  Looking directly at Argentine she said, "You know you have every right to do stupid things. No one cares if you mess up your own life… But you have no right to do that to this poor girl," she said pointing at Sami.

  "She adores you and she's placed her trust in you. I couldn't just sit back and watch you place her in danger, so I did something about it. It's just lucky for you that I couldn't help her without helping you too," she finished with crossed arms and a look of defiance.

  Argentine had that funny tight feeling in his head… The one you get right before a massive headache overwhelms you.

  The chief looked at Argentine and flexed his hands… Now can I interrupt?

  Argentine nodded.

  "You're the reason the police were suspicious of us in the first place! We hadn't been aboard the platform for more than ten minutes before they realized you were there!"

  "Yeah, they must've upgraded their facial recognition software since the last time I visited," she mused casually.

  "Whatever!" the chief said loudly. "The point is, you are the cause of all our problems!"

  "Oh, nonsense. Why didn't you just tell the truth?"

  "What? Why…"

  She turned to look questioningly at Argentine.

  So did Sami and Barry…

  "You wanted me to give you up? I… We…" he looked over at the lieutenant.

  "We didn't think it was wise to be associated with you in any way shape or form," Lieutenant Stark said calmly.

  "Well, there you have it," Mandi pronounced. "You made a bad decision and you're blaming me for it. If you would've come clean they would've questioned you for a while and then let you be about it. Instead, you had to recklessly endanger this girl's life!"

  "Wait a minute!" said Argentine. "By playing dumb we not only protected ourselves, we gave you time to make your escape. At the very least you should be showing us some gratitude!"

  "I can take care of myself, I'll have you know. I didn't need your help."

  "She did manage to change her identification photo in the police database pretty quickly," the chief muttered.

  Argentine looked at him sharply as if to say, Whose side are you on?

  "At any rate," Mandi said, again picking up the conversation. "I had nothing to do with you challenging the Asperian military. You own that one all by yourself."

  Changing tacks, Argentine said, "And just how do you know what happened with the Asperian military?"

  "I told you. I have… contacts."

  "Contacts with whom?" Argentine insisted.

  "Is it really that important?" Mandi suddenly asked. "I did get you out of there… Your flag was lifted, you've got a freight contract, and you’re establishing a reputation with the Guild… Isn’t that what you wanted?"

  Argentine could see the chief and Barry exchanging glances.

  Turning to the professor, Argentine asked, "And just how do you figure into all of this? Is your name really Sullivan?"

  "Yes, actually it is." Glancing at Mandi, he continued, "I, uh… Have a need to get to Trinity. I really do appreciate your help and I really can help you process some ore along the way. Call it a payment of gratitude, if you like."

  "Trinity," Argentine said deadpan.

  "Yes, Trinity." With some confusion he continued,
"You knew that's where you were taking me, right?"